There are two types of fee waivers: General fee waivers and Program fee waivers.

If you'd like to apply for a fee waiver and don't already have a Black List membership - we invite you to create an account on blcklst.com. Writer profiles are free and open to all.

General Fee Waivers

These are geared toward supporting Black List writers with financial need. If approved, they provide one evaluation and one month of hosting on us!

Once your writer profile is complete and your demographic information is filled out, you can access the general fee waiver portal.

Click your profile icon in the upper right corner of your dashboard and select Account Settings. The Billing tab is where you’ll find the General Fee Waiver section: your access point to request a general fee waiver and provide the necessary information to complete your application.

Program Fee Waivers

These are exclusive to our partner programs and are frequently offered as an automatic part of the submission process. These waivers generally provide a free month of hosting and one free evaluation. As long as waivers for the selected program remain available, every application with a program-qualifying project will be considered.

You can apply for a program-specific fee waiver via that program's submission page. Depending on the program, this process might look different or have specific requirements—be sure to review the eligibility criteria thoroughly!

If you do not have a project uploaded, you will be asked to upload and add a project during the fee waiver application process. If you already have the project you'd like to submit uploaded, ensure that it is online and actively hosted before submitting your application.

Once a fee waiver application is approved, your project is automatically opted into consideration for its connected program and immediately assigned a reader.

When approved for a program fee waiver, your project is not charged a monthly hosting fee until the full term of free hosting offered by the program has been used. Any free evaluations are automatically applied upon approval. We recommend you plan any submissions carefully to ensure your preferred PDF is the one matched with a reader.

If you are not approved for a fee waiver, one of two things will happen.

If the project you opted into the program is new (i.e., if it was uploaded along with your fee waiver application as part of the program submission process), it will be immediately un-hosted and set offline. You are not charged for hosting when your project is offline.
tip: If you still want to be considered for the program, you will need to bring your project online and purchase an evaluation, or receive a general fee waiver, before re-applying for the program.
If the project you opted into the program was already in your dashboard and online at the time of opt-in, no change will be made to your project's hosting status. If you would still like to be considered for the program, you can always re-apply with the understanding that you will not receive a fee waiver. Keep in mind that if your project does not currently have at least one pending or complete evaluation, you will need to purchase one to ensure your project meets our universal site requirement.

Hosting & Billing